A local doctor has opened a new mental health clinic that is being described as a first of its kind in the Pacific region.
Dr Taralina Gae’e-Atefi has established the Ahmadhina Health Centre in Samoa, a private clinic dedicated to Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy and approved by the Ministry of Health.
The clinic marks the first known centre of its kind in Samoa and across the Pacific and Oceania region, focused specifically on Positive Psychotherapy, a human-centred approach developed by psychiatrist Nossrat Peseschkian in 1977.
Dr Gae’e-Atefi said she was driven to open the clinic after years of concern about the state of mental health services in Samoa, particularly the high rates of suicide and limited access to care.
“For many years, there has been ongoing evidence that mental health is an area of urgent need,” she said, pointing to suicide, substance abuse, and violence in homes and communities.
